September 18, 2008

After the interviewer presses him a couple times on the point and tries to focus him on the fact that Prime Minister Zapatero isn't from Mexico and isn't a drug lord either McCain comes back at her saying, "All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the Hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."

Then there's a moment of awkward pause before she says. "But what about Europe? I'm talking about the President of Spain."

McCain: "What about me, what?["]

Interviewer: "Are you willing to meet with him if you're elected president?"

McCain: "I am wiling to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for humans rights, democracy and freedom. And I will stand up to those who do not."

At this point, the interviewer gets tongue-tied presumably because she can't get over McCain not knowing what Spain is.

I've listened to the audio, and what Marshall is missing is that when the interviewer says "But what about Europe?" it sounds as though she says "But what about you?" That's why McCain says "What about me, what?"

There's not as easy an explanation for why McCain is unresponsive about Spain initially, but goes back to the previous subject of Latin America and goes on about Mexico. It's impossible to believe that McCain doesn't know where Spain is. But it is possible that he didn't recognize the name Zapatero or doesn't know enough about the country to want to say anything coherent about it. It seems more likely that he was getting tired of the interview or finding the interviewer a little hard to understand, and he was just trying to get to the end and it showed.

UPDATE: First, please note that my comment above isn't meant to completely absolve McCain. I have taken a vow of cruel neutrality. I say what I think regardless of whose ox is gored. Now, here's the update: WaPo reports:

"The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," he said in an e-mail....

Asked to explain McCain's apparent shift in tone and position since April, Scheunemann gave almost no ground.

"In this week's interview, Senator McCain did not rule in or rule out a White House meeting with President Zapatero, a NATO ally," he said in an e-mail. "If elected, he will meet with a wide range of allies in a wide variety of venues but is not going to spell out scheduling and meeting location specifics in advance. He also is not going to make reckless promises to meet America's adversaries. It's called keeping your options open, unlike Senator Obama, who has publicly committed to meeting some of the world's worst dictators unconditionally in his first year in office."

She very clearly said "I'm talking about the President of Spain" in the part of the exchange you try to use as an excuse. It's very hard to miss that. Your excuses FAILS.

John McCain is losing his grip. That or his neocon cabal wants to punish Spain for ... whatever. =====================On another note, here's a trick question: Why doesn't Bush get on TV to reasssure the nation during this time of great financial crisis?

Princeton grad Josh Marshall has a PhD in American history. I'd like to give him the names of 15 or 20 countries and see how many world leaders' names he knows. Maybe also quiz him on the names of Supreme Court justices in 1892.

Someone needs to run this trip on Sen. Obama, though I do bet that Sen. Biden would get the highest score.

stinger, news flash: Marshall is not running for President and claiming to be the nation's foreign policy expert. There is a difference.

The interviewer referred to him by title "President of Spain." Name recognition is not at play here.

I have family McCain's age and I love them dearly. But we can't afford some new political correctness that denies people lose their mental faculties as they become elderly. McCain is showing a lot of signs of losing it.

Alpha, what the hell are you talking about? I wanted to make a point of bringing one key thing to the discussion, that it sounded like the interviewer said "What about you?" which explains the weirdest-seeming thing that McCain said.

I don't ignore the rest of it or let him off the hook for it.

Could you turn off the damned autopilot and read and think for a few minutes?

Age is definitely an issue, and hearing, too. Reagan was doddering towards the end.

Nonetheless, this 'gotcha' game could be played with any top national politician. I'd rather have a nasty old sailor across the table from Vladimir "Give Alaska Back" Putin than someone with less experience. For me, that's the bottom line. It's a rough world out there.

Like the homes McCain is said to not know that he owned and the unfavorably lit portrait, this “incident” says more about how wide open the guy is to gotcha artist, and political enemies than what we really need to know to decide if he is fit for the office of the president of the United States.

And, just a minor detail that bothers me a lot, Zapatero is not the Prime Minister, neither was Aznar or Gonzalez or Suarez before him. The office of Prime Minister does not exist in Spain. It is the President of the Government. The Head of the State is Juan Carlos I de Borbón Dos Sicilias.

Sometimes I really wish Democrats were as charitable, but as Simon said, it's hopeless even here

Explain to me how we are supposed to be charitable when you guys play such a gutteral game.

Have you ever called your congressman or senator and said get Karl Rove out of our party immediately, as he is further destroying the political discourse in our country.

Where were you when Rove was maligning a Vietnam vet who lost 3 limbs?

Where were you when your side was demonizing anyone who spoke sensibly regarding the invasion of Iraq, when in fact this country was attacked by agents of Saudi Arabia.

I could spend all day listing disgusting, uncharitable things your party has been up to for as long as I can remember.

NOW you ask for decency. This must be a joke.

When you put as much energy into taking down the dirtbags from your party and fighting for decency and honor in public discourse, we will be charitable. You demand we get into the gutter with you and then whine when you get shit thrown back at you. Think about it.

goesh said... Mac was thinking of Batista, formerly of Cuba. His first name was Flugencio, a vague Spanish connection to the Flu

10:28 AM

Actually, not sure why you bring this up (although I do have an idea), but Batista's first name was Fulgencio, which is actually related to two Spanish saints, and that translates loosely from Latin to "the bright one" or the "flamingly bright one" to be more exact. It is really kind of ironic.

And to kill your sense of irony, I was born in Cuba 14 years after Batista fled, and my family was always against him. His henchmen imprisoned my sisters' father, and severely mistreated my mother, to put it midly. I was expecting this for a long time, and as always, I was correct on it. You can try again now...

McCain didn't know who the president of Spain was, and he's supposed to be the foreign policy expert.

I'll wager that a lot of foreign policy experts can't rip off the names of every European leader either. Compared to Britain, German and France, Spain I don't think ranks high in the category of 'why we should care'.

It would be refreshing to see one of these reporters ask His Holiness if he knows the national leaders of nations who rank higher in importance to this country than Spain. For example: Georgia? Poland, Ukraine? India? Canada? Japan? South Korea? Columbia?

I'll wager you'd get a lot of ahs and ums should Barry be asked any one of those.

Not me, Peter. Not all homosexuals are misogynists, by a long shot. So in doing so, I wouldn't want to wish to paint any of them with that broad brush.

But when you find one that is, it creeps you out to your very marrow. Much of the Middle East enables this kind of misogyny in their cultures -- barely concealed rage against women, based on homoeroticism mixed with misanthropy. Yuck.

I could spend all day listing disgusting, uncharitable things your party has been up to for as long as I can remember.

No you can't. You took your best shot. We could spend years talking about the gutter; JFK, LBJ,Carter, then the master of gutter politics Bill Clinton. Do not foget his wife, Hillary, who took gutter politics to the sewer.

You libs are just pissed and jealous because until Mark Penn and Rahm Emanuel you had no Karl Rove.

It's also "possible" John McCain is too old and not smart enough to be President of the United States.

He's 72 years old and was 894th out of 899 in his graduating class at the Naval Academy.

People who graduate in the bottom 1-2% of their graduating class would have a tough time getting an interview with a major corporation much less become leader of the free world.

This is the same man who, two days ago said the economy was fundamentally strong and that we couldn't bail out AIG...then, either realizing things were not as he thought (or being told by someone who was actually did understand the situations), did a full 180, reversing course on both issues.

In the 2004 election campaign the Republicans roared about things like this, constantly referring to it as the kind of "flip-flop" that should disqualify the "flopper" from being President.

Now, we have many of those same people on the right coming up with new and improved excuses on a daily basis to explain why McCain says such things, appears confused or just takes the wrong stand on important issues...only to change his mind within hours or days.

*And I'm sure some here noticed Dana Perino yesterday, telling the press that she wouldn't say the economy was "fundamentally sound" anymore, because if she did, everybody would inject the White House into the election campaigns.

Really?

This after after we've all seen both McCain and Bush speaking in lockstep, describing the economy using the exact same terms, deflecting any talk of potential disaster with the standard jingoistic "America is strong" tripe we've been hearing over and over again.

What Dana should have said (if she were being honest), about her sudden change of heart regarding White House comments affecting the campaigns is this:

"We now realize that both McCain and Bush have been yanking your chains and we finally have to back away...because we were flat out wrong."

Speaking of whether McCain is losing it: Here's the woman McCain picked to be a heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world, responding to a question from in a town hall meeting in Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Governor Palin, there has been quite a bit of discussion about your perceived lack of foreign policy experience. And I want to give you your chance. If you could please respond to that criticism and give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the White House to rebut that or mitigate that concern."

PALIN: "Well, I think because I’m a Washington outsider that opponents are going to be looking for a whole lot of things that they can criticize and they can kind of try to beat the candidates here, who chose me as his partner, to kind of tear down the ticket.

But as for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared and I know that on January 20th, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness.

And if you want specifics with specific policy or countries, go ahead and you can ask me. You can even play stump the candidate if you want to. But we are ready to serve."

*But then, before there could be a follow-up question relating to "specifics?":

GOP presidential nominee John McCain stepped in, pointing out that as governor of a state that is oil and gas plentiful, Palin was familiar with energy. She knows it to be "one of our great national security challenges," he said.

People who graduate in the bottom 1-2% of their graduating class would have a tough time getting an interview with a major corporation much less become leader of the free world.

Really? That implies anyone who graduates in the bottom 1-2% of Harvard, Yale, Stanford is looking toward a career at managing a Steak and Shake.

You may wish to consider the stature of Annapolis by potential employer in your assessment. Someone graduating at the bottom of Annapolis will catch the eye of an employer before the magna cum laude of say, Boise State University. In any event, employers put little emphasis on class standing and more on class major and extracurricular activities (outside job, volunteer work, student government) when evaluating a candidate so your argument is of little note.

People who graduate in the bottom 1-2% of their graduating class would have a tough time getting an interview with a major corporation much less become leader of the free world.

I can't think of the last time I even bothered to look at where a job applicant when to college. My firm hires professionals and we look at experience and work samples. If I see a resume that tries to sell me on the applicant's GPA, or class rank, or membership in honor societies, I roll my eyes and ignore it.

“I'm talking about the President of Spain”That’s the problem. There is none. Neither a Prime Minister. Only a king of Spain and a "president of the government" (presidente del Gobierno) …

“no, lem, we want president who knows our NATO allies and their presidents and prime minister.”Well, then, considering Mc Cain has been going to the Munich Conference on Security Policy and met most of those guys almost every year, the choice is clear … (btw, Zapatero never went to Munich as far as I can see … )

I notice not many here have any problem at all referring to Obama as "exotic."

I don't. I mean lets be honest, the name Barrack Hussein Obama in this county is exotic in the way John Daniel Smith isn't. It's not anymore politically incorrect than saying Selma Hyak sounds more exotic than Rose Sanchez.

Positroll said... “I'm talking about the President of Spain”That’s the problem. There is none. Neither a Prime Minister. Only a king of Spain and a "president of the government" (presidente del Gobierno) …

“no, lem, we want president who knows our NATO allies and their presidents and prime minister.”Well, then, considering Mc Cain has been going to the Munich Conference on Security Policy and met most of those guys almost every year, the choice is clear … (btw, Zapatero never went to Munich as far as I can see … )

"The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero. Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview."

If McCain knew exactly who the interviewer was talking about, it's a total mystery why he said: "I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not, and that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."

The only way to make sense of that remark is to suppose that McCain thought that the interviewer was asking about someone in Latin America -- not, I assume, because he doesn't know where Spain is, but because he was just confused as to who she was talking about.

Suppose that's right. If so, then Scheunemann's spin is designed to cover up for McCain's confusion. If so, that tells us something very important. Namely:

McCain and his campaign are willing to insult a foreign leader and damage an alliance, rather than admit to a moment of confusion.

"I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not, and that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."

aj lynch: How many press releases do you think go out every day of the week from both campaigns? How many Presidential candidates think Spain is a country in Latin America?

- Petey: You also know "exotic" is a code word for black, just as "community organizer" is thrown out in a disparaging manner (especially by you of all people...a city cop?), which I find rather strange, considering the work they do.

There's not a major city in America that doesn't have community organizers helping those who can't help themselves with food drives, transportation, health concerns, emergencies and many other aspects of assistance.(My wife and I have worked with meal deliveries and other chores for the elderly for many years now and I've never heard anybody ever refer to us or others who help out in the way you do. And there is absolutely no way the work we do could be coordinated effectively with those who work full time as "organizers.")

For you to criticize anybody who helps other citizens, regardless of your political leanings, makes me believe you are a very bitter person.

Hey, no offense Chip, I always look forward to your comments, but if there's one thing that's MORE annoying than all the partisan bickering (which I am certainly guilty of myself at times) it's the people who come in to announce that they're so above it all.

"Moderate" is not deserving of any special praise. It's just another flavor on the menu.

section9, it's nice to know you care about what the liberals think, but I have a news flash for you: We're not nearly as concerned about whether "Spain hasn't been an ally since Aznar got bounced and Zapatero buggered out of Iraq in his craven display of man-boy irrelevance"...as we are that a man who is running for President evidently doesn't know what in hemisphere Spain is located.

"Spinning" what he said into something relating to "libs" is nothing more than a bullshit dodge...and of course, you already know that.

THE PRESIDENT: "The American people are concerned about the situation in our financial markets and our economy, and I share their concerns. I’ve canceled my travel today to stay in Washington, where I will continue to closely monitor the situation in our financial markets and consult with my economic advisers. I spoke to Secretary Paulson this morning, and I will meet with him later on today."

Oh, I don't know. I can think of a whole number of places in these United States where John Daniel Smith might be pretty exotic. Heck, certain once traditional American names would be pretty darn exotic to a couple whole generations. Including the first names of all four of my grandparents, and the second names of three of the four of them. Oh, and even the last name of them (oh, my poor maternal grandma--three for three!).

chickenlittle: I'm not the least bit bitter about people who help others, which, as you know, was my opinion regarding Petey...but you can bet your ass I'm bitter about a few other things.

I'm disappointed and bitter about our country's leadership and that there are still many (especially right here) who would again vote for Bush, and now McCain, who voted with Bush 90-95% of the time, even after what we've seen over the past 8 years.

I heard McCain this morning, whining about how the economy is so upside down (finally) and putting the blame on deregulation of all things...yet he himself and Lindsey Graham are by far two of the ultimate historical champions of just that.

Good God. McCain is actually standing by his refusal to meet with the PM of Spain.

"The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," the Senator's foreign policy adviser Randy Sheunemann told the Washington Post.

There you have it. McCain is more belligerent than Bush. Here he is creating an international incident where things were fine before because...? Why? Payback?

And McCain is contradicting himself, again: In an early-April interview with a reporter from Spanish newspaper El Pais, McCain said, "This is the moment to leave behind discrepancies with Spain."

He added: "I would like for [President Zapatero] to visit the United States. I am very interested not only in normalizing relations with Spain but in obtaining good and productive relations with the goal of addressing many issues and challenges that we have to confront together."

...Given this fourth opportunity to extend an olive branch, McCain stuck to his guns: "I'm willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom and I will stand up to those who are not."

That McCain would lump Zapatero in with such Latin American bad guys as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez comes as a surprise, because Zapatero and Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, were the protagonists in one of the most public anti-Chavez moments in the Spanish-speaking world.

Wow! News flash to the foaming right wing: We need some friends in this world. We can't dictate other nations' foreign policy and need to respect their decisions.

It's really important McCain not take the White House. He's arrogant and needlessly antagonistic toward allies. The American people should not place their stamp of approval on such belligerence and hostility toward the rest of the world.

Meh. Most Americans don't even know where Alaska and Hawaii are or they think they are somewhere in the Pacific near Mexico because many times when they look at a map of the US they see both Alaska and Hawaii they are both in their own panels in the locations imposed on top of the Pacific near Mexico. They are literally taking those positions as an actual geographic location.

Either McCain had a senior moment, doesn't know who the Prime Minister of Spain is, doesn't know where Spain is, or thinks that Spain isn't a part of Europe. A situation that could easily be corrected by simply showing him a map and letting him study it for a while. 95% of people don't even understand geography beyond 20 miles of where they live.

There's not a major city in America that doesn't have community organizers helping those who can't help themselves with food drives, transportation, health concerns, emergencies and many other aspects of assistance.

Sounds like you do not know the difference between a social service agency and a community organizer.

Son: It's next to Canada, and NOT NEXT TO [major vocal emphasis] another state. West Coast.

Me: Wow.

Son: West Coast of NORTH AMERICA, of course, but everyone knows that.

Me: [Silence]

Me: [starts typing] As you were, **son**.

(At this point in the day, we've progressed through penmanship, grammar, spelling and math, and have now moved on to a quality documentary on ancient peoples [read: cavemen/women] as a prelude to history and science. I love how science and history mixes so well in some subject areas.

I know what a social service agency is, and there is a crossover between them and community organizers.

Community organizations or "service agencies" are generally nonprofit organizations that provide services to specific neighborhoods, and can be everything from parent-teachrs to 4-H Clubs.

"Community organizers" on the other hand seek to empower the same neighborhoods, etc., doing what they can to help make them stand on their own two feet. It can be related to voter registration drives, food banks or teenage and parental counseling.

And there 1,000's of community organizers that are strictly voluntary, not funded via the government, funded via contributions from ordinary citizens who work hand in hand with the "service agencies."

You're spinning of anything related to community organizers is silly and lessens your argument...which, again...I find rather bizarre, considering you say you were a cop for 20 years.

Unless you're saying that all of these "community organizers" are just nothing but a waste of time and we should get rid of them altogether.

Why can't you bring yourself to admit it's nothing more than a code for "black?"

Because as much as you try to make it so its not 'black and white'. I also said Selma Hyak is an exotic name and she isn't black. Vanessa Williams is about a wonder bread as you can get and ..gasp... she's black. Finally, I don't use code words. I call em like I see em.

Really Lucky you need to up your game because debating you is like playing football against my 11 year old daughter.

You're spinning of anything related to community organizers is silly and lessens your argument...which, again...I find rather bizarre, considering you say you were a cop for 20 years.

Unless you're saying that all of these "community organizers" are just nothing but a waste of time and we should get rid of them altogether.

is that really what you're saying??

Actually, yes. Being a cop for almost thirty years- correctiong you there- I have seen first had the how useless community organizers are. I worked in some of the worst neighborhoods in the country. They did nothing. I also saw how they didled up to the criminal elements and politicized the street gangs. They even provided legal services for them.

For those of us trying to fathom the belligerence toward Spain, this must cover it:

"Zapatero’s first action was to make good on a long-standing campaign promise to remove Spanish troops from Iraq, to the overwhelming approval of Spaniards but the great irritation of Bush.

Eighteen months later, there has still been no one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, and rhetoric has been harsh. It got so bad at one point that Bush refused to take Zapatero’s phone call of congratulations last year after the president won reelection."

John McCain knows who's running Spain. He was head of Armed Services when the Spanish bugged out of Iraq. He remembers. So do I. TPM's little gotcha post doesn't bother me one bit. The Spanish do.

What Democrats haven't figured on, because their so lost in their larger Bush hate, is the overwhelming irrelevance of most of the NATO alliance. The people doing the heavy lifting in Afghanistan can be counted on one hand-the US, the Canadians, the Brits, and God Bless them, the Danes and the Dutch. The French, having paid their price in blood chits, have recently stepped up.

For several years, it was basically the Anglo-Saxon powers (the Aussies, let's not forget the Diggers). The Germans have been conspicuously absent in a combat role.

The Afghan War will tell us whether this alliance is worth a damn or not. Democrats have spent so much time blaming Bush for everything that they haven't insisted that our so-called Allies pull their weight in what is supposed to be called "the Good War". So the worst they have to put up with is some gentle chiding from Jesus Hussein Christ in Berlin. And of course, you people allow the Europeans to get away with their comfortable anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.

Spain has dropped in a battalion of troops in Afghanistan. That's just so Zapatero can show up at NATO meetings and look Sarkozy in the face. Nobody's fooled.

The problem with Democrats is that there is never a price for anti-American policies or actions on the part of our enemies or our friends. They always want to be liked. They're like the easy marks at the poker table of life.

McCain should have just admitted that her accent was difficult to understand and he thought she said "Zapatista". He would have earned back a little straight talk cred from media looking to push back from the liar narrative that got going last week.

On the other hand maybe this was all meant to get the national conversation off the construction bond situation and back to foreign policy.

What is it you think a Captain in the navy does and why such contempt for that job?

There are many who do notrealize what a captain in the Navy is. A naval captain is the equivalent rank of a Colonel in the Army, Marines, or Air Force. Colonels or naval captains also fill in when there is no flag rank- General or Admiral- to fill a slot. Thus, being a naval captain means he had great responisbility over the lives, health, and welfare of a large number of troops.

McCain's next promotion would have been to Admiral. He knew he would not get that promotion. At the time,"ship drivers" were given preference in promotions to Admiral. He was an aviator.

Hi Ann Althouse. The school bus just brought me and Alpha home and Mom took Alpha to the doctor to get his ritalin prescription renewed. So I can use the computer for a while. Alpha has ADHD which I think means he can't sit still and he won't shut up.

My sister Judy and Alpha had a big fight last night. Alpha was trying to finish his dinosaur diorama for school at the kitchen table last night. Judy is an 8th grader and always tries to boss us around. Judy was running around the kitchen with a glass of hot water and then dumped it on Alpha's diorama. Alpha yelled and Judy said "it's global warming, moron. Global warming killed the dinosaurs and I'm the goddess of global warming."

Dad got really mad and yelled at Judy and she went to her room and turned on her stereo. Mom told Dad not to yell and he got madder and madder. Finally Mom told him he should go to a meeting at Alanon to calm down, so he did.

I'm not sure what Alanon is. I think it's some kind of club that Dad goes to on his way home from work. It's on the top floor of a building because Dad is always talking about taking the steps.

Aunt Judy is Mom's sister and she says Dad should go to a club called Dumbassanon, and that makes Mom mad. Aunt Judy went to college to study about women. She's okay but Grandma's always telling her to shave her legs.

Me and Mom and Alpha were in the grocery store last night and I saw you. You were in the checkout line in front of us. I know it was you because you were wearing weird shoes and you looked like your picture somebody took when you were in that coffee place.

You bought nail polish and spinach and walnuts and bananas. When you were done paying you told the checker outer to have a nice day.

That's sexist! You're a sexist! Aunt Judy says that women can't ever have a nice day because the men got all the nice days and women just have to work and not ever ever get a nice day. So you're a sexist for telling that checker to have a nice day!

Yuck. Alpha and Mom are going to be home soon and Alpha is going to start again talking about Obama. Blah blah blah blah Obama Obama Obama all the time. Alpha and Dad like Obama. Me and Mom like McCain because he has Sara Palin with him. Mom and Aunt Judy argue all the time about Palin. Aunt Judy says Palin is not a real woman because she has a husband and kids. Mom says Palin is a real woman because look at the kind of guy she landed. Aunt Judy rolls her eyes.

Anyhow, when Alpha is off his ritalin he runs around the house and types on the computer about Obama. Obama can do this! Obama can do that! He repeats the same thing over and over and over and over until Dad has to go to an Alanon meeting.

I told him "if Obama's so great, tell him to make Dad stop farting after he eat Pop Tarts." Dad gets pop farts because his stomach doesn't work okay.

Palladian said... "Gosh, this game of needling each other over minutiæ is really starting to overstay its welcome... when is the election season over again?"

Over?? Well, technically soon. But on the internet? Never, at least not in any meaningful sense. I don't recall (as random choices) either Powerline or Kos's page really letting off the politics much between the elections.

The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new ad that once again distorts Obama's tax plans.

*The ad claims Obama will raise taxes on electricity. He hasn't proposed any such tax. Obama does support a cap-and-trade policy that would raise the costs of electricity, but so does McCain.

*It falsely claims he would tax home heating oil. Actually, Obama proposed a rebate of up to $1,000 per family to defray increased heating oil costs, funded by what he calls a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

*The ad claims that Obama will tax "life savings." In fact, he would increase capital gains and dividends taxes only for couples earning more than $250,000 per year, or singles making $200,000. For the rest, taxes on investments would remain unchanged.